


Shoes Upon the Table

by nabisco



Category: Homestuck, blood brothers-musical
Genre: Alternia, Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Bad Ending, Bad Parenting, Blood Brothers, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Drug Use, Hurt No Comfort, Kinda, M/M, Major Character Injury, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Superstition, Unrequited Crush, as in the old musical, but jic, no happy ending here folks sorry, not quite dead dove but it is sad, ok so the violence isnt that grpahc, very innaccurate sorry, yeah its based on that lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:02:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27964997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nabisco/pseuds/nabisco
Summary: So I watched the musical Blood Brothers at a very young age and it left an imprint on me and now im writing homestuck fanfic based off of it. heed the warnings, also the relationships are pretty much just angst fuel lol
Relationships: Kankri Vantas & Karkat Vantas, Kankri Vantas/Equius Zahhak, Karkat Vantas/Equius Zahhak, The Condesce & The Dolorosa (Homestuck), but really its mostly karkat and kankri as brothers, familial karkat and kankri, karkat and equius are moirails but karkat is flushed for him, ok so - Relationship, very minor kanquius





	Shoes Upon the Table

She dashes through the street, two small bundles tucked under her shawl. She knows that there’s only one hope for these grubs, yet also knows that that hope will inevitably doom them. Still, she runs until she reaches the palace. 

The guards let her in without question, after all, she comes here almost every week. She follows the familiar halls, retracing the pathways she’s used for years, finally finding herself in a lavish chamber, covered wall to wall in pink, in plush, in jewels.

Inside this chamber sits the Empress. Her raven hair cascades down her back, pierced by her 3-foot tall horns. Without turning around, she responds. 

“I’m not in the mood for your services, Dolorosa.”

“Do not refer to me with that title, I am not defined by my suffering.”

“Aren’t you?”

A heavy silence blankets the room. The Empress speaks once again. 

“Dolorosa, if you do not state your business, I will have you culled.”

“You wouldn’t. But I’ll get to the point. I have borne two mutant twins, both male. I can only care for one. Due to you influence, the followers of the Signless are driven to the fringes of society. Taking care of more than one child, mutant, at that, is just asking to get culled.”

The Empress nods. “So what do you want me to do about it?”

“Please, take one of them for yourself. I couldn’t bear to see both of them go, but at least with you, one will have a chance at a good life. Please, Meenah.”

The Empress slams her hands down on her vanity. “Do NOT call me that. You are nothing to me. You do not get the privilege of uttering my name.” 

“A thousand apologies.”

“A single genuine one would suffice.”

“That is beside the point. Will you, or will you not, raise one of these sons as your own?”

The Empress sigh, adjusting her golden circlet. “You do know what fate you’re imposing upon them, don’t you?”

She stays silent.

“Twins separated at birth. I’m sure you’ve heard the rumors. If either learns that the other is related to him, both shall die.”

“I am aware.”

The Empress rises from her seat. “Then let’s get on with it. Give me the grub. I will have his horns sharpened by the next perigree.” 

She hands the Empress one of the bundles. “Thank you, Empress. Truly.”

“You will regret this.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It is the truth.”

And so, dear readers, this is where our story begins. One woman’s choice. A story like this is doomed to end in tragedy, but I’m sure you already knew that. 

Enough beating around the bush. Allow us to meet our protagonists.

Kankri Peixes walks down the street, a toy whistle in his hand. Although he’s the son of the Empress, the guards allow him to walk freely among the common people. After all, he says, they’re trolls just like us.

He’s surprisingly culturally aware for a boy of only 4 sweeps, but not aware enough to understand the tyranny his mother imposes. 

He flips the plastic toy between his fingers, admiring the way it catches the light. Alternia isn’t very bright, but the shop lanterns cast a colored glow over the street. 

If Kankri was less focused on his frivolous toy, he might have noticed the other boy careening towards him. 

“Haha! I got your longbow!” the boy yells, before colliding directly into the fuchsia-clad Kankri.

“Fuck, sorry, look where you’re-” he mutters, cutting off as he makes eye contact with the heir to the Alternian throne.

“Your majesty! I apologize! I should have been more careful I-”

Kankri simply laughs. “It’s quite alright! It’s refreshing to not be coddled for once.” He extends a hand. “I’m Kankri, but I guess you knew that.”

The boy takes it apprehensively, as if it’ll burn him if he touches it for too long. “The name’s Karkat. And this here’s Equius.” A broad indigoblood troll peeks from behind Karkat’s back, having surreptitiously taken the bow back from Karkat. 

“It’s great to meet you! Is that a bow? Whatever you were playing looked incredibly fun!”

Equius beams. “We were playing Executor and Traitor-”

“It’s Threshecutioner, dumbass.” Karkat interrupts.

“Well, you were a traitor were you not?”

“Shut it, Zahhak.”

“Do NOT speak that way around a royalblood! You’ll scare him.”

Kankri giggles again. “Well, would you mind terribly if I joined you? I can be the traitor, if you’d like.”

Karkat and Equius share a look, before nodding enthusiastically.

And thus began one of the closest friendships ever forged. The boys grew up together, laughing, playing, fighting, doing everything a young boy could dream of. Closest of all were Kankri and Karkat. They formed an alliance, a brotherhood of sorts, although of course they wouldn’t use such human terminology. 

But nothing gold can stay. As the boys hit adolescence, the fabric of their relationship began to fray, if even in the smallest ways. 

“So Eq will be the duke in distress, Kanks, you’ll be the evil tyrant imprisoning him, and I’ll be the brave Threshecutioner that saves him!”

“Hold on, Karkat. Why must I be the evil tyrant? Is it cause I’m the heir?”

“No, it’s cause Equius wants to be saved by me. Duh.” Karkat sighs.

“On the contrary, he’d much rather be whisked off with me. Isn’t that right, Zahhak?”

Equius’s indigo instincts get the better of him. He nods towards Kankri. 

Kankri grins triumphantly. “See, Karkat? I’m his hero.”

Equius flushes a deep blue.

“Whatever. Fuck this. I’m gonna be late to the factory anyway. Because unlike you entitled highbloods, I actually have to  _ work _ to earn my wealth.” He stomps off towards the industrial part of town. 

Kankri frowns. “What’s his deal? Jealousy is a very bad look on him.”

Equius blushes even harder. “Erm. Perhaps I was too mean. I should find him and-”

“Goodness, no! You’re completely fine, Equius, if anything, I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn’t flaunt our relationship in front of him. He gets so  _ jealous _ , is the problem. Doesn’t he know that moirallegiance isn’t the only quadrant?”

Equius begins to perspire. “Our-our relationship? What exactly do you mean?”

Kankri rolls his eyes. “Oh, come on, Zahhak, don’t play coy. We both know we have red feelings for each other.” 

Equius stutters, but fails to form a sentence.

“Well? Am I wrong?”

“N-no, no you aren’t.”

Kankri smiles. “Good.” He kisses the top of Equius’s head. “I should go home. The Empress will be displeased if I am gone too late.”

And so the cracks begin to form. A classic story, really. Unrequited love, stolen away from you by the person you thought you could trust the most. It can drive men to do the most heinous acts. But we’re not quite there yet.

Kankri stands in an alleyway, waiting for Karkat. When he finally arrives, his mouth is smeared in a green substance. He looks both pissed and out of it, plodding more than walking. 

“Goodness, look at the state of you! Where have you been? We agreed to meet here to get food together, what’s wrong with you?”

Karkat shoves him in the side. “Fuck off, Kank. I’m not in the mood for your nagging.”

“It’s not  _ nagging _ , I am simply worried for your health! Goodness, you look awful. Have you been on sopor slime?”

“God, no, just piss off! I don’t have time for this right now!”

“I will  _ not _ ‘piss off’ while my friend is doing dangerous drugs! You know what those do to lowbloods, don’t you? They won’t calm you down, they’ll only make you angrier! Karkat, please listen to me.”

He growls low in his throat. “I said. Fuck. OFF!” He backhands Kankri in the face, sending him crashing into the brick wall. He storms off, sopor still on his fingers. 

The poor Dolorosa. She had tried so hard to give her children a happy life, but she doomed them to an untimely demise. For when her son came to her, bloodied and high, she made the greatest mistake of her life. She told the truth. After all, who believes in superstition? And what better way to solve a feud than to invoke brotherly love?

Karkat storms towards the palace, sickles in hand. His mind addled by sopor, his anger fueled by heartbreak, he goes looking for his brother. Unfortunately for both of them, Kankri was returning home, just outside the gates.

“Kankri.” Karkat growls. Kankri turns around, eyes widening in fear as he sees the weapons in Karkat’s hands. 

“Kar, what-”

“How could you not tell me? How could you not FUCKING tell me?”

“Kar I don’t-”

“Shut it! How come you got to live in luxury? How come you got to be the lucky brother? What do you have that I FUCKING DON’T?!”

“Brother? What in the world-”

“You think you can avoid your family, your REAL family, for this long? You think you can just waltz around with your sharpened horns, your fancy clothes, your stolen matesprit?”

“Karkat, there are guards right behind me. If you try anything, they will not hesitate to-”

He barks out a laugh. “Wishing death upon your own family, huh? It’s a good thing I got nothing left to live for!” With that, he lunges at Kankri, moving faster than the guards. The dual blades slice him almost perfectly in half, leaving him to bleed out at Karkat’s feet. 

The candy-red blood spills out of him, the stench seemingly snapping Karkat out of his bloodlust. 

“Kan…? Kan, oh fuck, Kankri-” But he doesn’t speak another word, for a spear is sticking out of his chest. It seems the guards finally found their bearings. 

The blood pools out of their almost-dead bodies, merging together in a monochrome display of sorrow. 

The moment was remembered only as the death of an heir. For only highbloods were considered important enough for an obituary. But you and I both know it was more. It was the death of a brotherhood. 

**Author's Note:**

> whoo sorry about that sad ending folks! but thats how blood brothers ends so. shrug. on another note i highly recommend blood brothers!!!! very fire musical. will make u cry. shoes upon the table is a banger thats why i named this after it


End file.
